Chair Statement

Dear Theatre, Film and Digital Production (TFDP) students,
As Chair of the department, it is my pleasure to welcome you to another academic year.
On Wednesday, October 4 at 4:00 we hold our annual Welcome event, featuring our
faculty, staff and a performance by our Gluck Improv troupe. Please come to the
University Theatre to meet and greet your TFDP community.

We have two new professors as part of our academic team: Kimberly Guerrero, who will
be teaching acting classes and Annika Speer who will continue teaching public speaking
and literature courses. We are also welcoming in a new production manager, Kellie
Knight. In addition, a new lecturer, Paul Gordon will be teaching film classes and we
welcome our eminent artist, Heather Woodbury, who will be holding workshops in film
and theatre for our writing, directing and acting students in late November, early
December.

This year, we have a full slate of production activities, and I encourage you to become
involved with both theatre and film productions. We begin with Love’s Labour’s Lost, a
musical adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy, directed by Chari Arespagochaga.
Auditions are this Saturday, and you can contact Kellie Knight (kellie.knight@ucr.edu)
if you have any questions.

In the winter, we are producing Antigone, to be directed by Prof. Bella Merlin, and in the
spring we are premiering Birthmark, an original play by Professor Rickerby Hinds. In the
winter, we will showcase the departmental film MUSE by our very own TFDP student
Justin Reich, to be directed by another student, Carlos Viejobueno. Film training and
production take place March 5-17. In the spring, we will celebrate original playwriting by
students in our two festivals, the New Play Festival and Playworks. At the end of the
year, we produce a Culmination Ceremony featuring work by all of our graduating
seniors.

I encourage you to get involved in the many productions, films and projects that are part
of the 2017-18 TFDP season.

This year also brings challenges, and we have prepared a TDFP Statement and information
on recent DACA ruling, which is on our website. We are pleased and proud to have each and
every one of you as members of the TFDP community.